Has anyone ever walked on Mars?

Question

And if anyone has did they ever try breathing without masks? I know this question probably sounds like a joke but I'm serious. I look at the pictures of Mars and it looks so much like just an ordinary desert with blue sky in the background. I know about the zero gravity thing but am just not completely aware of the reasons they say you cannot breath. Thank You.

Answer 1

WASHINGTON - Two NASA space probes that visited Mars 30 years ago may have stumbled upon alien microbes on the Red Planet and inadvertently killed them, a scientist theorizes in a paper released Sunday.

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The problem was the Viking space probes of 1976-77 were looking for the wrong kind of life and didn't recognize it, the researcher said in a paper presented at a meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Seattle.

This new report, based on a more expansive view of where life can take root, may have NASA looking for a different type of Martian life form when its next Mars spacecraft is launched later this year, one of the space agency's top scientists told The Associated Press.

Last month, scientists excitedly reported that new photographs of Mars showed geologic changes that suggest water occasionally flows there — the most tantalizing sign that Mars is hospitable to life.

In the '70s, the Viking mission found no signs of life. But it was looking for Earth-like life, in which salt water is the internal liquid of living cells. Given the cold dry conditions of Mars, that life could have evolved on Mars with the key internal fluid consisting of a mix of water and hydrogen peroxide, said Dirk Schulze-Makuch, author of the new research.

That's because a water-hydrogen peroxide mix stays liquid at very low temperatures (-68 degrees Fahrenheit), doesn't destroy cells when it freezes, and can suck scarce water vapor out of the air.

The Viking experiments of the '70s wouldn't have noticed alien hydrogen peroxide-based life and, in fact, would have killed it by drowning and overheating the microbes, said Schulze-Makuch, a geology professor at Washington State University.

One Viking experiment seeking life on Mars poured water on soil. That would have essentially drowned hydrogen peroxide-based life, Schulze-Makuch said. A different experiment heated the soil to see if something would happen, but that would have baked Martian microbes, he said.

"The problem was that they didn't have any clue about the environment on Mars at that time," Schulze-Makuch said. "This kind of adaptation makes sense from a biochemical viewpoint."

Even Earth has something somewhat related. He points to an Earth bug called the bombardier beetle that produces a boiling-hot spray that is 25 percent hydrogen peroxide as a defense weapon.

Schulze-Makuch acknowledges he can't prove that Martian microbes exist, but given the Martian environment and how evolution works, "it makes sense."

In recent years, scientists have found life on Earth in conditions that were once thought too harsh, such as an ultra-acidic river in Spain and ice-covered lakes in Antarctica.

Schulze-Makuch's research coincides with work being completed by a National Research Council panel nicknamed the "weird life" committee. The group worries that scientists may be too Earth-centric when looking for extraterrestrial life. The problem for scientists is that "you only find what you're looking for," said Penn State University geosciences professor Katherine Freeman, a reviewer of the NRC work.

A new NASA Mars mission called Phoenix is set for launch this summer, and one of the scientists involved said he is eager to test the new theory about life on Mars. However, scientists must come up with a way to do that using the mission's existing scientific instruments, said NASA astrobiologist and Phoenix co-investigator Chris McKay. He said the Washington State scientist's paper piqued his interest.

"Logical consistency is nice, but it's not enough anymore," McKay said.

Other experts said the new concept has a certain logic to it, but more work is needed before they are convinced.

"I'm open to the possibility that it could be the case," said astrobiologist Mitch Sogin of the Marine Biological Lab in Woods Hole, Mass., and a member of the National Research Council committee. But he cautioned against "just-so stories about what is possible."

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On the Net

American Astronomical Society: http://www.aas.org/

NASA's Phoenix mission: http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/future/phoenix.html

Answer 2

Have People Walked On Mars

Answer 3

I not too long ago heard that NASA is eying a manned challenge to an asteroid. This might be earlier than a manned challenge to Mars. Makes feel. Asteroids are relatively nearby in comparison to Mars (inexpensive, more secure). Some even come toward earth than the moon. Such a challenge might be extra foremost than a challenge to Mars and I feel it will have to be performed (on the grounds that asteroids CAN come very practically earth) nevertheless it might (more often than not) additionally push a manned challenge to Mars again even extra. -edit- Actually the truth that Mars does have an surroundings makes it a really convenient go back and forth. The rocket gasoline (methane) to move residence is made on Mars out of the CO2 within the surroundings by way of the Sabatier/electrolysis cycle. All you ought to convey alongside is a minor quantity of hydrogen. The skinny surroundings may also be used to sluggish the spacecraft down by way of aerobraking. But the truly hurdles might be the entire presents, that also demands to be introduced, and the nonexisitng cars. NASA verified a methane rocket for the first actual time this yr... And there may be the problem of lengthy publicity to microgravity at the go back and forth out. No factor in sending astronauts to Mars if all they may be able to do after they've landed is gasp for air. Alot of labor demands to be performed and the ISS is facet of it. IT isn´t even completed but.

Answer 4

No one from Earth has ever walked on Mars. Several unmanned landers are there, but that's all at this time.

Spacesuits will be required for humans to walk around on Mars because its atmosphere is much too thin and deficient in oxygen. Also the temperature is usually far below zero.

The gravity on Mars isn't zero. It's about 1/3 that of Earth.

Answer 5

Only robots have been on Mars. The pictures you see that they take of Mars have been artifically colored to make various features more distinguishable. The actual atmosphere of Mars looks very dull brown and red, and closely matches the rock colors on the surface.

There is nowhere near enough oxygen in Mars' atmosphere for a human or even plants to survive, not to mention the surface temperature being less than -100 C.

Answer 6

Nobody has ever walked on Mars. The atmosphere is too thin to breath without a mask, ans it is made up mostly of Carbon Dioxide, unlike out atmosphere, which is made up of 78% Nitrogen and 20% Oxygen.

Mack

Answer 7

No human has walked on Mars yet.

You're wrong about the gravity. There is gravity on Mars but it's about one third what it is on earth.

The atmosphere on Mars is un-breathable by humans: not enough oxygen. When people get there -- and they will eventually -- they will have to wear environment suits outside and live in sealed buildings like bio-domes.

Answer 8

Noooooooo!
En-Oh.
No humans have ever walked on Mars, and furthermore none are ever likely to go there. The reason for that is the imminent decline in fossil fuel energy: the energy crisis will cause so many problems that nobody will be interested in spaceflight until sometime after spaceflight becomes impossible again... forever.

Answer 9

people have walked on mars but mars most of the time many people around the world say and people from mesums we have not walked on mars yet we may do that soon but you need this suit to walk on it

Answer 10

People don't walk on Mars...they run!!! ;-)